Review | Pavel Kolesnikov and Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s resounding ‘Rach 3’, moving Shostakovich on strings and Hong Kong composer’s space music
- Russian pianist contributed to a distinctive reading of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 3 with his weaving of the solo part’s lines with the orchestra’s playing
- Sinfonietta’s string players largely pulled off Shostakovich’s icy chamber symphony, and Hong Kong composer Lam Lai took the audience on a journey through space
There’s been an abundance of diverse, top-notch performing arts events in Hong Kong of late, and pianist Pavel Kolesnikov’s concert with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta was no exception.
It opened on an intriguing note with the world premiere of Hong Kong composer Lam Lai’s There is No Place like Home (Beta). The composer – performing herself as electronics soloist with conductor the orchestra under the baton of Yip Wing-sie – took the sell-out audience on an imaginary 12-year journey from Earth to Neptune inspired by Nasa’s Voyager 2 space mission.
Yip directed the Sinfonietta with focus and much attention to detail, ensuring that Lai’s sound exploration was aptly atmospheric.
The whooshing gusts and faint sirens that howled gently through the woodwind and brass may have alluded to the movement of lunar winds or gases. Then again, the shimmering and skating sounds of the sul ponticello (on the bridge) string playing could have been alluding to them. In any case, there was ample space in Lai’s score for one’s own imagination to roam free.
Some of her own electronic sounds were reminiscent of static from old radio transmissions as it tuned in and out, and the buzzing sound of motors – sometimes upfront, but often fleeting and distant – added to the sense of nostalgia that Yip mentioned in her introductory remarks.
